Starcraft 2 crash on iMac

A few hours ago i purchased a 21.5-inch: 3.2gHz iMac. This is my first Apple computer.

I just installed Starcraft 2 and attempted to play it three times. All the times however, only minutes into a game the screen would darken and a message appeared reading "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button until it turns off, then press the power button again".

Im positive the specs of the computer aren't the issue as the specs surpass those of my old pc in every way, which ran starcraft.

If you have only just bought your machine, it's possible there is actually something wrong with it.

Use it for a bit doing things other than SC2. If there is no panic, your hardware is probably ok. In that case, I'd suggest installing iStat or Temperature Monitor and checking your internal temperatures after playing SC2 a little. (I'm not actually certain that heat can cause kernel panics but it's what I would check for first.)

If the panics occur regularly, even when playing other games or web surfing or whatever, call Apple and get them to repair or replace it.

Good luck!

EDIT: One thing I just thought of - did you add RAM? If you have the wrong kind of RAM or if you didn't put it in properly you can get kernel panics, I did this once.

If you have only just bought your machine, it's possible there is actually something wrong with it.

Use it for a bit doing things other than SC2. If there is no panic, your hardware is probably ok. In that case, I'd suggest installing iStat or Temperature Monitor and checking your internal temperatures after playing SC2 a little. (I'm not actually certain that heat can cause kernel panics but it's what I would check for first.)

If the panics occur regularly, even when playing other games or web surfing or whatever, call Apple and get them to repair or replace it.

Good luck!

EDIT: One thing I just thought of - did you add RAM? If you have the wrong kind of RAM or if you didn't put it in properly you can get kernel panics, I did this once.

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i've added no RAM at all. I've not gotten this 'panic' when doing anything but attempting to play starcraft. I would install 'iStat' and do what you say, but this 'panic' happens after only a few minutes, so i believe it to be impractical.

i've added no RAM at all. I've not gotten this 'panic' when doing anything but attempting to play starcraft. I would install 'iStat' and do what you say, but this 'panic' happens after only a few minutes, so i believe it to be impractical.

Thanks for your time, but do you have any other ideas ?

Click to expand...

I hate to give you this canned response, but if you just bought this iMac brand new, and you bought starcraft... (or heck, even if u didnt pay for SC...)

Just take that sucker into the apple store and let them figure it out.

Call 800-my-apple and make an appointment for the genius bar, in my city they can usually get me in the same day.

Did you make sure to run software update from the apple menu? Who knows how many updates were released between the time that iMac was made and you bought it. It would be the first place I would look for something like that.

The fact that you get panics only when playing SC2 suggests a software issue to me. Unless it is heat related. Though tbh if you get a panic after running SC2 for only a few minutes, that's not long enough to get any heat buildup.

You probably have a bad graphics card that will need to be replaced. Kernal panics tend to be hardware related and since you only get this while running a program that pushes the graphics subsystem, all signs point to the graphics card. Reinstalls, erase and installs, etc., aren't going to cure bad hardware. Contact Apple.

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